BROADCAST VIA FACEBOOK LIVE       SITE: CITY OF HIAWASSEE
OPEN TO PUBLIC – City Hall Training Room Upstairs

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION AGENDA
July 26^th, 2021   6PM

1. Call to order
   • Invocation – Amy Barrett
   • Pledge of Allegiance 
   • Mayor’s Introductions of Guests and Announcements 
   • Approve the Agenda as distributed 
2. Old Business
   • Mayors Report
3. New Business
   • Alcohol Referendum addition of sentence 
   • Vernon Dixon Carbon Resolution
   • Planning/Land Use feedback 
   • Assignment of Peggy Gardner to DDA Board – Lindie Wright Term up
   • Consent Agenda – August 3^rd  
     • July 6^thCity Council Meeting Minutes 
     • July 26^thWork Session Minutes 
     • March Financials

4. Police Report
5. Economic Development Update
6. Executive Session
7. Adjournment

HIAWASSEE WORK SESSION MINUTES
July 26^th, 2021   6PM

The City of Hiawassee July Work Session was called to order at 6PM on July 26^th, 2021 in the Upstairs Training Room at City Hall by Mayor Liz Ordiales. The meeting was broadcast over FaceBook Live.

Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members Anne Mitchell, Amy Barrett, Patsy Owens, Nancy Noblet, and Jay Chastain.  Staff present were Economic Development Director Denise McKay, City Clerk Bonnie Kendrick and Police Chief Paul Smith. Also present was City Attorney Thomas Mitchell.

The Invocation was given by Council member Amy Barrett and was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Mayor welcomed regulars to the meeting and guest Mr.  Ryan McPherson.  Motion was made by Council member Anne Mitchell to approve the agenda as distributed, second by Council member Nancy Noblet, all in favor. 

In the Mayor’s Report, the following items were presented:  The Covid update (44% vaccinated in Towns County, 30% in Georgia; 10 new cases in the last two weeks). Council member Jay Chastain said he is seeing an increase in cases so numbers will be going up.  The Mayor presented Mr. Ryan McPherson with the Purple Heart Proclamation from the City of Hiawassee which recognizes and honors our combat wounded.   Mr. McPherson told the Council that August 7^th is the annual date for recognizing the combat wounded.  More information can be found at moph.org.  Mayor Liz has asked Mr. McPherson to present at the 9/11 20^th anniversary event.  Hometown Heroes banners will be update in September and the current banners will be presented to the hero or their family.  Property tax collection has exceeded $200,000.  In the Men of Water report, there was a snake found in the bladder tank building, and the new Water building has been insulated and, at the same time, two pump buildings and the stage roof were also insulated (stage roof was for sound and heat reasons).  Mayor Liz also encouraged everyone to take the Comprehensive Plan Survey – it is very short, but exceedingly important.  Another loan is going to be paid off – the next highest interest (3%) loan is a GEFA loan with 7 more years of payments.  The final payment will be made in August.  The Sale Tax Recovery contact the City entered into, found over $26k in sale taxes paid that should not have been paid.  20% was paid to the recover company netting the City over $21k.

Also in the Mayor report, qualifying for the election will take place the 3^rd week in August and the notice will be in this week’s Towns County Herald.  “Young-a-Wassee” is getting it’s 15 minutes of fame thanks to GMA doing a segment on Connecting, Collaborating and Caring, featuring Young Harris Mayor Gibby and Hiawassee Mayor Ordiales.  Events on the Square continue with yoga on Saturday mornings, Music on the Square on Saturday nights although the weather has not cooperated recently and the Music on the Square has been moved to the Civic Center.  The alcohol referendum has been amended to include the sentence “Those desiring to vote in favor of the issuance of the licenses shall vote "Yes." Those desiring to vote against the issuance of the licenses shall vote "No."”.  Mr. Vernon Dixon has asked the Council to consider supporting a Carbon Fee and Dividend Plan but the Council was not in support of it at this time.  The Council, Downtown Development Authority, Joint Development Authority members and City staff attended a training session on Planning and Land Use (Zoning) in order to become more educated on the subject.  The Council agreed that there was a tremendous amount of information imparted and they would like to research it more thoroughly.  All agreed that is would take a lot of hard work and community involvement.  Council Member Jay Chastain asked about putting a referendum on the ballot to see if the community is interested.  City Attorney Thomas Mitchell said that may communities have done so in recent years but stated it was not required by statute.  Most (Council and audience) agreed that “zoning” has a bad connotation and there would be considerable time, effort and education needed.  Crafting what would be appropriate for the City would be a time-consuming, lengthy and expensive endeavor.  One member of the audience suggested it need a “campaign” to “sell” it but that it has been proven to protect and raise property values.  The consensus on why people don’t want zoning is because they don’t want to be told what they can and can’t do on their own property.  Attorney Mitchell stated that the current use of properties can’t be changed as long as they are used as they are now.  It is called legally non-conforming.  After much discussion the Council feels they do not have sufficient information to make any decision and need to look at more training/homework to educate themselves.  Lindie Wright’s term on the Downtown Development Authority is coming to an end and Peggy Gardner has agreed to step in.   The DDA can have 1 DDA member who does not live in the County – Lindie was that person and Peggy is not yet a resident, however once her other home is sold, she will move permanently to her home in Hiawassee.  Approval will be on the agenda next week along with the consent agenda (minutes of July 6^th Council meeting and July 26^th Work Session minute and the March Financials).

In the Police report, Chief Smith gave the Council the statistics on the solar powered tag readers at each end of Route 76 City limits.  The readers each cost $2,000/year and were installed in December 2020.  To date they have provided approximately $8,500 in fines (no insurance, expired registrations) but they also provide information to the police department if there are known gang or terrorist vehicles, stolen vehicles entering the City.  The tag readers also count vehicles – between July 1 -5 there were 45,415 tags read and this past weekend July 23-25 there were 26,000.

Also in the Police report, Chief Smith notified the Council that one of the night officers has resigned and they are looking for a replacement.  The City currently pays approximately $4/hr. less than neighboring jurisdictions, however not all of those pay the same 100% benefits as does the City.  The job has been posted on Indeed to see if it will generate some interest.   Council member Nancy Noblet stated that safety was very important to her, and she would like to see if the City could find more money in the budget for Police protection.

In the Economic Development report, Economic Development Director Denise McKay reminded the Council that the August 1^stFriday is next week.  So far, we have been able to hold the events and she is hopeful that this one will go on as planned as well. Peggy Gardner will be stepping into Lindie Wright’s shoes on the DDA.  She has a business in Hiawassee and will be moving here permanently once her other home is sold.  The Paris Building stabilization is complete, and the roofs have been covered to keep water out.

Motion to enter executive session to discuss litigation was made by Council member Amy Barrett, seconded by Council member Jay Chastain with all in favor.

Motion to exit executive session was made by Council member Amy Barrett, seconded by Council member Jay Chastain with all in favor.

Motion to adjourn was made by Council member Nancy Noblet, seconded by Council member Amy Barrett with all in favor.  Meeting adjourned at 7:13pm